Trump Watch

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The wonderful novelist JONATHAN LETHEM talks about Communists in Queens in the 1950s, Hippies in the Village the 1960s, and the Occupiers of two years ago – all in his novel Dissident Gardens.
Jonathan will be reading at the Skirball, Tues. Sept. 24, 8pm; admission is free,  reservations  recommended – online  HERE .

Plus: Today Liberal education is under assault as never before—everyone from President Obama to Thomas Friedman are saying American business needs people in science, technology and engineering.  TOM FRANK will comment – he writes for Harper’s and The Baffler – and he has a PhD in history.

Also: The world’s first big all-girl teenage hard rock band was The Runaways, from L.A., featuring Joan Jett –EVELYN MCDONNELL will talk about the real story of The Runaways, and we’ll listen to some of their music from the seventies.  Her new book is Queens of Noise.
Playlist: “Cherry Bomb”;  “Gotta Get Out Tonight”;  “Queens of Noise.”

For the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we are featuring an hour of special programming: First, the forgotten history of the March on Washington—it aimed to end much more than racial segregation in the South.  For that we turn to WILL JONES, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the new book The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights.

Also: the behind-the-scenes battle over censoring the speech planned by John Lewis, the spokesman for SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee – today’s he’s a member of congress and the only surviving speaker from that day. Stanford university historian CLAY CARSON will explain–his classic history of SNCC is In Struggle.

Plus: a new perspective on what people DO remember from that day: “The Speech” by Martin Luther King. GARY YOUNGE, the award-wining columnist for the Guardian and The Nation, will comment on the way the speech has been profoundly misunderstood—how King emphasized the need for economic redress for centuries of discrimination.  His new book is The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream.

for the record: my KPFK show is pre-empted 8/14 and 8/21 for special Fun Drive programming

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North Carolina has passed the country’s worst voter ID bill.  It’s provoked widespread protest: thousands have marched in  the “Moral Monday” movement, and more than 700 have been arrested. We will talk to two of them, both history professors in North Carolina, both former presidents of the Organization of American Historians: JACQUELYN DOWD HALL of UNC-Chapel Hill and WILLIAM CHAFE of Duke. READ their op-ed about being arrested: HERE.

Also: “Life and Death in Assisted Living”: the shocking story of  the multi-billion dollar for-profit elder care industry.  We’ll speak with investigative reporter A.C. THOMPSON on the revelations from ProPublica and PBS Frontline.  WATCH the Frontline documentary by Carl Byker HERE.

Plus: “The Act of Killing” is a chilling  documentary about the death squads in Indonesia that killed more than a million people in 1965.  In the film, some of the leading executioners reenact real-life mass-killings for our benefit—in the style of the Hollywood movies they love.  The film is playing now in LA at the Nuart, and moves to the Landmark on Friday. We’ll speak with filmmaker JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER. WATCH “The Act of Killing” trailer HERE.

Today’s news from Edward Snowden & Glenn Greewald: XKeyscore, the NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’ —  HERE.

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The Romans captured and killed Jesus because the revolutionary movement he launched challenged the most powerful empire the world had ever known: That’s what REZA ASLAN says – his amazing new book is ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
Reza will be in conversation with Rainn Wilson tomorrow/Thurs at 8pm at All Saints Church in Beverly Hills at 504 North Camden Dr. – it’s a benefit for the LA Review of Books. tix $20 HERE .
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Plus: Today Obama talked about the economy in “a major policy speech.”  He said “we have more work to do,” and that he “hopes we can do it together.”  Wow!  HAROLD MEYERSON will comment – he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: Big news in the art world: Jeffrey Deitch is resigning as head of MOCA, the Museum of Contemoprary Art in LA.  CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT explains why Deitch failed–also why MOCA matters, and what’s next for the struggling museum.  Christopher is art critic for the LA Times.

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DAN SAVAGE, a leading voice of gay America: “Savage Love” sex advice columnist, and award-winning author now of AMERICAN SAVAGE.  There are 50,000 “It Gets Better” videos: WATCH the very first, with Dan and Terry: itgetsbetter.org/#7IcVyvg2Qlo .
Other favorites: Ke$ha www.itgetsbetter.org/#DV4EmSviDfQ ;
Stephen Colbert www.itgetsbetter.org/#BThRZbCs-p8 .

Also: EDWARD SNOWDEN has set off a worldwide debate about the spying practices of the US. TOM ENGELHARDT says that, as a result, the US is losing the public opinion battle globally.  Tom is the legendary editor of TomDispatch.com.

Plus: Plutonium is the most dangerous substance on the planet.  The US manufactured it in Hanford, Washington, and the Soviets manufactured it in Ozersk, Russia.  Now we have an amazing history from the ground up of the two plutonium production projects: PLUTOPIA: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters. The author is KATE BROWN—she teaches at the U of Maryland Baltimore County.
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Today in History: how the President of Purdue tried to ban the books of Howard Zinn: HERE.

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Activists are already moving  ‘from outrage to action’ in fighting the Supreme Court’s awful  decision demolishing the Voting Rights Act of 1965; ARI BERMAN will explain the new strategies, starting with legal challenge to new voting restrictions through preliminary injunctions.  Ari writes for The Nation and is an Investigative Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute. He is now working on a history of voting rights.

Plus: Yesterday was the confirmation hearing for Obama’s nominee to be the next director of the FBI, James Comey – we’ll have analysis  from RICK PERLSTEIN, who will comment not only on what Comey said, but what he should have been asked about what he’s done.

Also: The summer of 1964: that was Mississippi Freedom Summer, the tuirning point in the Vietnam War, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Republican convention nominating Barry Goldwater—and a magnificent new song, “Dancing in the Street” by Martha and the Vandellas.  MARK KURLANSKYwill explain what different people understood when they heard “summer’s here and the time is right.”  His new book is Ready for a Brand New Beat.

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Billionaires fund candidates in both parties, pushing self-serving plans like austerity.  That’s not democracy–it’s dollarocracy.  JOHN NICHOLS explains – he’s Washington Correspondent of The Nation, and his new book is Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Compex is Destroying America.
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Also: it was a historic day in Egypt, as the military removed Mohammed Morsi from power, the country’s first elected president.  We have analysis from MARK LeVINE — he teaches middle eastern history at UC Irvine, and he writes for Al Jazeera English.

Plus: Hemingway Lives!  CLANCY SIGAL says we ought to celebrate Hemingway’s passionate and unapologetic political partisanship and his attitude toward sex and sexuality, as well as his “stunningly concise, no-frills writing style.”  Clancy wrote the classics Going Away and Weekend in  Dinlock, and co-wrote the feature film Frida; his new book is Hemingway Lives!

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The Roberts Court ends the Civil Rights era: ADAM WINKLER of the UCLA Law School explains the historic significance of the Court’s 5-4 decision Tuesday invalidating the key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Adam writes about constitutional law and blogs for the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast.

Also: The Supremes and gay marriage: JON DAVIDSON, Legal Director of Lambda Legal, comments on the court’s rulings on Prop 8 and DOMA.  Jon reported for us after sitting in on the arguments in the Court on Prop 8 in March.

.Plus: The greatest generation?  After the WWII Normandy invasion, after the heroism and sacrifice, American GIs’  violent sexual assaults on French women horrified the French.
Some Americans were prosecuted — and even executed–for raping French women — but almost all of them were black (including the father of Emmett Till).
MARY LOUISE ROBERTS tells that story – she teaches history at the University of Wisconsin/Madison and her new book is WHAT SOLDIERS DO: Sex and the American GI in WWII France.